The past decade has brought important new advances in the fields of genetics, behavioral genetics, linguistics, language acquisition, studies of language impairment, and brain imaging. Although these advances are each highly relevant to the determination of what a child is innately prepared to bring to language acquisition, the contributing fields of endeavor have traditionally been relatively self-contained, with little cross communication. This volume was developed with the belief that there is considerable value to be gained in the creation of a shared platform for a dialogue across the disciplines. Leading experts in genetics, linguistics, language acquisition, language impairment, and brain imaging are brought together for the purpose of exploring the current evidence, theoretical issues, and research challenges in a way that bridges disciplinary boundaries and points toward future developments in the search for the genetic and environmental bases of language acquisition and impairments. This collection provides discussions and summaries of: *breakthrough findings of the genetic underpinnings of dyslexia; *theoretical and empirical developments in the specification of a phenotype of language acquisition and impairment; *evidence of familiarity and twin concordances of specific language impairment; and *new evidence from brain imaging. It concludes with a critical response from an advocate of rational empiricism.

In this forcefully argued book, the leading evolutionary theorist of language draws on evidence from evolutionary biology, genetics, physical anthropology, anatomy, and neuroscience, to provide a framework for studying the evolution of human language and cognition. Philip Lieberman argues forcibly that the widely influential theories of language's development, advanced by Chomskian linguists and cognitive scientists, especially those that postulate a single dedicated language "module," "organ," or "instinct," are inconsistent with principles and findings of evolutionary biology and neuroscience. He argues that the human neural system in its totality is the basis for the human language ability, for it requires the coordination of neural circuits that regulate motor control with memory and higher cognitive functions. Pointing out that articulate speech is a remarkably efficient means of conveying information, Lieberman also highlights the adaptive significance of the human tongue. Fully human language involves the species-specific anatomy of speech, together with the neural capacity for thought and movement. In Lieberman's iconoclastic Darwinian view, the human language ability is the confluence of a succession of separate evolutionary developments, jury-rigged by natural selection to work together for an evolutionarily unique ability.

Developmental Language Disorders: From Phenotypes to Etiologies is based on the recent conference of the same name sponsored by the Merrill Advanced Studies Center of the University of Kansas. In the past 10 years, considerable advances have taken place in our understanding of genetic and environmental influences on language disorders in children. Significant research in behavioral phenotypes, associated neurocortical processes, and the genetics of language disorders has laid the foundation for further breakthroughs in understanding the reasons for overlapping etiologies, as well as the unique aspects of some phenotypes. Too often the findings are disseminated in a fragmented way because of the discrete diagnostic categories of affectedness. This volume attempts to assimilate and integrate the findings of the transdisciplinary research toward a more coherent picture of behavioral descriptions, brain imaging studies, genetics, and intervention technologies in language impairment. The contributing authors are all scholars with active programs of research funded by the National Institutes of Health involving diverse clinical groups of children with language impairments.

This volume brings together 15 papers on the evolution and origin of language. The authors approach the subject from various angles, exploring biological, cultural, psychological and linguistic factors. A wide variety of topics is discussed, such as animal communication, language acquisition, the essentialist-evolutionist debate, and genetic classification.

This book investigates the nature of human language and its importance for the study of the mind. In particular, it examines current work on the biology of language. Lyle Jenkins reviews the evidence that language is best characterized by a generative grammar of the kind introduced by Noam Chomsky in the 1950s and developed in various directions since that time. He then discusses research into the development of language which tries to capture both the underlying universality of human language, as well as the diversity found in individual languages (Universal Grammar). Finally, he discusses a variety of approaches to language design and the evolution of language. An important theme is the integration of biolinguistics into the natural sciences - the 'unification problem'. Jenkins also answers criticisms of the biolinguistic approach from a number of other perspectives, including evolutionary psychology, cognitive science, connectionism and ape language research, among others.